Gluttony
by Caged Eternity
Summary: Inspired by the WIKTT “Seven Sins” challenge, but not, I think, quite what they had in mind as far as a response goes...Severus ruminates [ha, ha] on Hermione. Try not to get too hungry reading...there're a good few [albeit atypical] references to food :P


_**Disclaimer:** Put plainly: I'm nowhere near rich enough to be the real J.K._

_**A/N:** Soooo, I'm going to apologize in advance for the fact that this story will probably make very little sense at all. I recently came across the WIKTT "Seven Sins" challenge, and in the course of about fifteen minutes, those particular immoralities managed to bounce around the inside of my skull and pop out as this here vignette. It was written straight through from start to finish, and although I've given it a quick checking-over for grammatical error and such, it has not been slaved over for weeks, or beta read, or anything else like that; and it really hasn't much point, apart from being a bunch of (hopefully) pretty words. That being said, I don't think it's really in-depth or 'exclusive' enough to qualify properly for the WIKTT challenge, but it does center in a bit towards one particular sin..._

_Oh, and for the record - the story's intended to take place some years in the future, with a relationship already established; so no, Sev isn't just some wacked up teacher fixating on a fourth-year Hermione Granger, or anything like that x.x_

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**GLUTTONY**

Severus Snape is many things.

Above all, perhaps, he is a human being: prone inevitably to the mistakes and the failings, the contradictions and the shortcomings so inherent in his kind.

Yes, Severus is a human. He is a male. He is also, for that matter, a wizard.

Severus Snape is a half-blood, and he is a Slytherin, and he is a master of Potions. He is a former Death Eater; he is a former spy. He is the murderer of Albus Dumbledore, and he is also credited with the killing of Lucius Malfoy. There is a lot of other blood on his hands, too, in fact – but he is also a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and he is also a hero of the war.

Severus Snape is a good person, but he is not a nice one. He is honorable, but he is also sly; he is fiercely loyal, and yet he has betrayed. Severus Snape holds tight to his own code of ethics, but he has not always been so virtuous. He believes in redemption, while he himself is slow to forgive; he demands respect, and yet to win his admiration is an arduous task indeed. He is sarcastic, and contemptuous, and detached; but he is also steadfast, and passionate, and ripe with wit.

Severus Snape knows the meaning of sin. He has experienced pride, and he has experienced envy; and he has certainly shown moments of great wrath.

If there is one thing Severus has never been, however, it is a glutton.

He has gone too often with nothing – and he has known, too long, a life with far too little. He is aware, unlike so many others, of the value in even something small. Severus appreciates what he is given. He rejects greed, and though he may _want_, he does not crave, nor desire.

This has changed, now, with Hermione Granger.

She inspires in him a voracity that refuses to be satisfied – an appetite that cannot be quelled, a thirst that will never be quenched. He drinks her in like a plant drinks in sunlight; he starves for her like a sailor longs for the sea. She is a feast laid out before him: a copious bounty of honey-brown curls, tumbling across her shoulders like a cataract over cliffs; eyes glistening chocolate-dark, flecked with cinnamon and gold. There is a twist of lips, wine-red, against a smooth, tanned face like creamy caramel, with blush-apple cheeks and spice-freckles peppered across the nose.

He hungers for her like a wolf after a doe: can taste her on his mind, knows the scent of her, feels the delicious, ravenous tugging at his belly. Of her, he cannot have enough – he would gorge himself on the sight of her, the sound of her, the feel of her fingers intertwined with his own.

He has tasted luxury now; has savored and indulged in the wealth of her companionship. He is a connoisseur of sunshine, of wide eyes and wild curls – a regular bon vivant.

Severus Snape has learned the true meaning of gluttony.


End file.
